Considered one of the greatest works of the Sufi writers, Saadi’s Bostan (The Orchard) is an astounding poetic collection of wisdom that includes anecdotes, proverbs, and quotations that engage the rules of life and psychological observations of individual behavior. Saadi (or Abu Muslih bin Abdallah Shirazi, 1184 – 1283/1291?) was a Persian poet and traveler. His insights reflected in his poetry derive from his sojourn among the common people from Anatolia to Indian, Egypt to Syria, and throughout the Middle East. Here Bostan is presented in German translation, the work of one of Germany’s great poets, Friedrich Rückert, who also had the distinction of being a professor of oriental languages. The lover of medieval poetry will find this supreme accomplishment of Persian poetry irresistible.

Friedrich Rückert (1788–1866) was an Orientalist, poet, and translator. He studied at the universities of Würzburg and Heidelberg and taught at the universities of Erlangen and Berlin.